A number of astute people have noticed that the Wizards aren't exactly bringing in the top talent in the NBA draft for individual workouts. Today's list of participants is headlined by Ty Lawson, whose draft stock isn't exactly doing so well. Say what you want about Lawson, but nobody is picking him in the top five.
The obvious conclusion is that this shows the Wizards are definitely trading down in the draft. After all, why would we work out players that are certainly not going to be considered if we kept the #5 pick?
To this line of thinking, I say, "Maybe, but don't make too much out of it." Why? A few reasons.
1. The Wizards have a history of drafting players they don't work out: I think we can all agree that JaVale McGee and Dominic McGuire were the two best draft picks of the Ernie Grunfeld era. Neither of them actually worked out for the Wizards. Last year, the Wiz worked out the 12th pick (Jason Thompson), 16th pick (Marreese Speights), 17th pick (Roy Hibbert), 19th pick (J.J. Hickson), 22nd pick (Courtney Lee), 27th pick (Darrell Arthur) and 28th pick (Donte Greee), but never McGee. You may remember that the Post did a nice little insert in their print edition, profiling five players they thought the Wizards might take. McGee wasn't on that list. Meanwhile, McGuire also never worked out for the Wizards, even though 2007 was the year the Wizards worked out 100 bajillion players leading up to the draft.
2. The Wizards have been present at group workouts: They sent a couple representatives to Treviso for the Reebok camp. Ernie Grunfeld himself was at the Chicago pre-draft camp. The Wizards had people at the big Golden State pre-draft workout camp. It's not like they aren't around.
3. Individual workouts are often determined by the players: As we're seeing more and more, the top prospects in the draft just won't work out for individual teams. That was the reason McGee didn't work out, after all.
4. It's still early: Draft day is two weeks away. The Wiz have time to bring in the top prospects for workouts.
Just a few things to keep in mind before we all jump to conclusions.